 Na everything was talking about, but you must be wondering what I was up to. The next item of business is a statement by Shirley-Anne Somerville on dignity and respect in Scotland's social security system. The cabinet secretary will take questions at the end of her statement, so there would be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Shirley-Anne Somerville, cabinet secretary. Ten minutes, please, and my apologies. I couldn't possibly comment, Presiding Officer, but I'd like to thank the chamber I have the pleasure to address the chamber today in my new role as Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People. It is just 30 months since the Scotland Act 2016, which devolved powers over social security to this Parliament. Yet, in that time, we have had the legislative framework for delivering benefits through the Social Security Act, passed unanimously by this Parliament five months ago. We have delivered our first benefit payments with carers receiving the carers allowance supplement, increasing their financial support by £442 a year, and, assuming that the DWP keeps pace and plans, we will deliver the first best start grants by Christmas over six months ahead of schedule. In addition, we are establishing a new social security chamber, making provision for an upper tribunal in the Scottish tribunal system to hear devolved benefit appeals and have launched our consultation on the young carers grant. None of that has been simple or straightforward. We are carrying out a difficult and complex transfer of benefits and powers that will impact on 1.4 million people across the country, so I would like to pay tribute to the stakeholders, our expert groups and our engagement panels, who have done so much to support the Scottish Government in keeping up the pace to deliver the social security system that Scotland needs and deserves. Their hard work is very much appreciated. I would also like to pay tribute and record my thanks to my predecessor, Jeane Freeman, for her commitment and dedication in getting us to this point. A key point that Jeane made over and over again is that social security is an investment in our people and a public service. That is important, so important that the principle is enshrined in the Social Security Act. It is also why, in April last year, she announced her plans to establish a Scottish social security agency to deliver benefits. I am pleased to say that, this month, the new public service, Social Security Scotland, is up and running, and I have had the privilege of recently meeting staff in our HQ in Dundee. I am delighted to announce to the chamber today, in line with that important principle of public service, that I have decided that it is our new public agency, Social Security Scotland, that will deliver assessments to determine eligibility for disability assistance, fully supported by public sector healthcare professionals. I want to ensure that disabled people can access a flexible person-centred assessment service across the length and breadth of the country, and it is clear to me that Social Security Scotland is best placed to do and deliver that. That decision has been taken over an extensive period of research and analysis to consider how assessments for disability assessments should be delivered and careful consideration of all the evidence. In a clear demonstration of the trust that we want people to have in the system, our five criteria for determining the assessments process were dignity and respect, equality and poverty, efficiency and alignment, implementability and risk, and economy and environment. That has shown that an in-house approach will deliver on our principles. We have also consulted with stakeholders and sought advice from the expert advisory group on disability and carers benefits, led by Dr Jim McCormick, which fully backs our in-house approach. As we further develop our model over the coming months, we will continue that engagement and I greatly value all of their input in ensuring that we deliver a service that is right for the people of Scotland. To deliver a successful disability assessment process, we have considered what is needed for a social security system that ensures dignity and respect at every stage. We have also looked at what does not work for people. Throughout our engagement with individuals, we have repeatedly heard about the stress and trauma that is caused to ill and disabled people by the UK Government's current assessment system. A system that is failing people and has been widely criticised, including by the Westminster Work and Pensions Committee inquiry and the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We have learned the lessons of their failure, and we have taken account of the two independent reports of Paul Gray on the failures of the UK Government's personal independence payments assessments and his subsequent recommendations. The Government has ruled out the use of private contractors in the deliverability of disability assessments in April 2017. In April 2018, the commitment was enshrined in the Social Security Act by ensuring that no one will be forced to undergo an assessment carried out by a private sector provider. It is clear that the UK Government is content with an approach that sees private sector assessment providers prioritise profits over people. This Government puts people first and foremost. We will not see individual assessments farmed out to private companies. The experience people have when trying to access disability assistance is the responsibility of government. From application to award, we will provide a service and will manage performance, quality and outcomes. It is this approach that will see dignity and respect embedded throughout and ensure that people can trust in the benefits system. The Scottish Government remains committed to significantly reducing the proportion of people required to attend a face-to-face assessment. It is enshrined in legislation that individuals should not be required to do so unless it is the only practicable way to make a decision about their entitlement. When a face-to-face assessment is carried out, I will make sure that the process is right for people. Therefore, I would like to update the chamber on four clear actions on that process. Those actions have again been developed following consultation with stakeholders and extensive engagement with experienced panel members and our expert advisory group. It is clear to me that the current UK Government disability assessment system has not been designed to prioritise needs of the individual being assessed. Instead, it is structured to maximise case volume, deter flexibility and ensure rigid compliance. We have heard from a great many people about their dissatisfaction with the way in which assessments are organised, including people who have had to travel for hours to get to assessments, those who are too ill to leave the house being refused home assessments and those who unavoidably miss their assessments being told that they must start the entire application process again. The first of our four actions that I want to outline is that we will put the needs of the individual at the centre of our system by providing greater choice and control. Therefore, I can announce that individuals will be provided with choice and flexibility, taking into account the distances people are expected to travel and their location preferences. When invited to assessment, it will be at a time that suits them. Secondly, for those who have difficulty travelling to an assessment centre, I will ensure that we have a service that can deliver home-based assessments to those who need them. Thirdly, it is an action to build trust with people who currently have no trust in a DWP assessment process that is exacerbated by a lack of transparency. Therefore, I can announce that we will introduce the audio recording of assessments as standard. We want people to be confident in the knowledge that there is an accurate record of all that has been said during their assessment. Recording will also provide assessors with an additional tool that they can access when writing assessment reports, and ensuring reports are an accurate reflection of the assessment. It is our intention that a properly functioning assessment system, robust decision making and a thorough redetermination process will bring about a much reduction in the number of decisions that are taken to appeal. We recognise, however, that, in any social security system, there will be instances where individuals challenge the decision that is made about their entitlement, and they should do so. We want to get their appeals right, so I can announce my fourth action, which is that we will ensure that the tribunal can also use the audio recording to inform their determination. I am proud of what has been achieved so far and of the actions that I have outlined today. There is a further demonstration of how we will embed dignity, fairness and respect in everything that we do, and I look forward to further updating the chamber on progress towards delivering Scotland's system of disability assistance. The Scottish Government will continue with the kind of innovative engagement that has led to the proposals that I have outlined today, and we will continue to build a social security system that the people of Scotland want and deserve. We now have 20 minutes for questions. I can ask those members who wish to ask questions to press their questions to speak now. I call Michelle Ballantyne to be followed by Mark Griffin. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her first statement. We would also like to welcome the commencement of the delivery of devolved benefits and add our thanks to all those who have helped the process. Last October, a Scottish Government report highlighted the clear divergence in PIP award rates between local authorities across Scotland. The report stated that, for new claimants, award rates varied between 52 per cent in East Dunbartonshire and 37 per cent in Dundee City. Can the cabinet secretary advise me whether there has been any investigation and evaluation as to why the success rates of PIP claimants varied across Scotland, and can she further assure the Parliament that there will be robust, on-going analysis and quick response to any such variations in the new system to ensure equality of outcome for claimants? We will ensure, as I said during my statement, that the social security agency ensures that we have a process in place that will have a very close eye on what is happening across the country. That is exactly why we believe that it is being delivered in-house. I would gently point out to her that the problems with the current PIP awards under the UK Government are exactly a demonstration of why it will be gratefully received by people across the country that the Scottish Government will be looking at disability awards in the future. The challenge that we have at the moment is that that is not within the Scottish Parliament's gift to do anything about. It will be soon, and we will see a very different system when it is. Mark Griffin for Alison Johnstone Thank you, cabinet secretary, for advancing your statement and welcome to your new role. The statement is very welcome. It seems like only yesterday I was arguing with your predecessor that it was in fact possible to include a legal ban on the private sector carrying out those assessments. I am glad that the Government finally listened to those in the Labour benches that are now moving on to delivery. The cabinet secretary spoke at length about the assessment process, which is very important, but disabled people are also desperate to know what the criteria will be assessed against and the value of that assistance. Can the cabinet secretary set out a timetable of when the qualifying criteria and the value of disability assistance will be publicly available? Finally, cabinet secretary, your Government recently began a tender process for the design of the new assessment process. Can you say today, in line with the spirit of the law, that you will block any involvement of the private sector in the design of that assessment process? Mark Griffin for his questions. As he well knows, the Scottish Government and Gene Freeman made the commitment. As I said during my statement that there would be no private sector involvement a year before the bill went through Parliament, but it is now acknowledged that the Parliament has wished for that to be in statute, and I think that that was absolutely the right decision to do. On the next steps, I very much see the statement that I am making today as laying the foundations for what the disability assessment process will look like. We still have some work to do on the details of that. For example, the expert advisory group is currently working through sources of evidence for making benefit decisions, the meaning of suitably qualified assessors, and the duration of the ward. That is the next steps that will be coming from the advisory group, and they are due to give that advice to me by the end of this year, and we will respond in due course. That is a journey that we are on in delivering this. As I made clear in my statement, there is no place for the private sector in the delivery of the assessment process in Scotland, and the Government will hold that very dear. Before I call Alison Johnstone, again, I have 11 members wishing to ask questions. I am going to be tough on preambles. I am sorry that you are warned. I do not want long preambles, but I want questions. Alison Johnstone, followed by Alex Cole-Hamilton. I thank the cabinet secretary for advance sight of her statement. It is welcome in its broad vision for disability assessments and many of the specific proposals that we know that those assessments have caused. No, I said what I said, Ms Johnstone. You will just have to ask a question. Those assessments have literally worried people sick. I would like to ask the cabinet secretary how far her ambitions run in terms of reducing the need for unnecessary face-to-face assessments. Is the very high number of above 80 per cent of applications going to carry on? I did say thank you. Please sit down. I thank Alison Johnstone for her question. I met with colleagues from Inclusion Scotland this morning. Many of the people whom I met talked to me very vividly about their personal experience going through the process, the stress and the ill health that has exacerbated. I made the commitment to them and made the commitment to the chamber that we are absolutely determined to bring down markedly the amount of face-to-face assessments that are taking place. We need to get the right decision earlier on in the process rather than waiting for that assessment. I would be more than happy. I am meeting Alison Johnstone very soon to discuss that in more detail with her at that point. Mr Cole-Hamilton, I do want to be Mrs Nasty again. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and welcome the cabinet secretary to her role. The flexibility that is outlined in the new proposals is very welcome, but what assurance can the cabinet secretary give to those people who are waiting for assessment that that flexibility is not going to lead to extenuated waiting times? I would give the assurance to those who will be going through this process that we are determined to get it right for them, and that includes the amount of time that it takes to go through the process. Again, I heard this morning about the stress and anxiety about waiting for the assessment process to conclude. The further stress, usually, when you find out that you need to go for an appeal because the assessment process has gone against you, that flexibility will be unbuilt. We have the assurance that Social Security Scotland will be adequately staffed and funded to deliver that in due course for the people that are going through the process. Assessments for PIP and ESA under the UK Government have a negative and distressing effect on my constituents. Can the cabinet secretary set out the next steps that the Scottish Government will take to ensure that the new Scottish system will get this right for people but, importantly, because she provides reassurances that both disabled people and the disability expert group will be meaningfully involved in the process, including the criteria on an on-going basis? I can absolutely give that reassurance to Bob Doris that one of the fundamental problems about the current system is that it is not designed for the people who are using it. People talk about fighting the system rather than being supported by it. That is why the engagement that we have had with our experience panels and why the engagement that we have had with our expert advisory group has been critical to ensuring that they are at the heart of everything that we do from designing the system, building the system and then what that system feels like as we go through it. I am more than happy to give that reassurance to members today that we will continue that type of inclusive engagement. It is exactly what is needed to ensure that we deliver the benefit system that will be right for the people who we serve. I remind members that I am in receipt of PIP and have been through the assessment process myself. Can I welcome the cabinet secretary's statement and ask two quick questions? Firstly, I welcome that the new agency will be doing it in-house, but how will we retain that the assessments are independent and will be seen as an independent document, not something used by the agency? The process that individuals will go through needs to be one that they have faith in, that they can trust is looking whole at their application and the impact on their lives. That is why we have brought this process in-house, to deal with some of the challenges that Jeremy Balfour rightly raised. I believe that the decisions that we have taken around how we will be delivering the assessment process will be able to give that reassurance to people and the transparency that we are building into that system. For example, the ability to see their assessment reports and the audio announcement that I also made today—that transparency along with the in-house—will, I hope, take on some of the points that Jeremy Balfour brought up today. Thank you. Shona Robison is followed by Pauline McNeill. I very much welcome today's statement and the in-house approach to assessment that will be taken. Can the cabinet secretary set out just how assessor performance will be ensured and how assessment performance will be monitored by the Scottish Government? The most important issue when we look at assessor performance is how the assessors will be recruited and trained to ensure that they have the right attributes and the right attitude for the job. We need to ensure that everyone who is working for the agency, including assessors, has embraced the ethos of dignity, fairness and respect. That is the reason, again, behind the criteria that we chose to make the service in-house. I believe that the agency has direct oversight of assessor performance and the assessments that it carries out. It will also mean that we can make improvements where necessary in a swift and positive manner. Pauline McNeill, followed by George Adam. The cabinet secretary says that she wants to get the appeal system right. Why will the cabinet secretary report to Parliament the number of appeals that may drop off following unsuccessful re-determinations, and will she be appointing new judges to refresh the tribunal system? I believe that I am attending committee. If it is not next week, it is the week after to discuss some of the secretary's legislation around tribunals. I am happy to go into much more detail than I may be allowed to do today around the tribunals process, but also when we are looking at the appeals process, it is very important that we get that right too. I refer back to one of the points that I made earlier about trying to ensure that we have less face-to-face assessments, and that we have the right decision making in place to ensure that we do not need as much re-determinations, we do not need as much appeals and that the tribunals process is less under demand. All of that action has to follow through. The tribunals process will be set up if the regulations are agreed by Parliament. At the moment, until we have full devolution of all the benefits to Scotland, we will ensure that that is fully staffed and adequately assured that the judiciary is in a good place to be able to deal with the cases that it has without building up a system that is bigger than it needs to be for the small amount of benefits that we have at the time. I am happy to go through that in further detail as the regulations go through the committee. Is the cabinet secretary aware of the work of the House of Commons Work and Pension Committee inquiry into the UK Government's PIP and ESA that found a pervasive lack of trust has undermined the operation of PIP and ESA assessments? How does the cabinet secretary plan to build trust in what is thought of by many people living with disabilities? No, that is fine, point made. No, Mr Adam, sit down, point made. That was quite important. I beg your pardon? Everything is important in life, but when I tell you you are finished, you are finished. Cabinet secretary. George Adam raises a very important point around trust. As I said during my statement, there is no trust in the current system run by DWP. I recognise that we need to ensure that we have trust in our system and that it is difficult when we are starting a new service, but that, in essence, is also the answer to the question. We are not looking at making slight changes to a faulty system. We are not looking to tinker around the edges of what the DWP has and will continue to do. We are building our new system, we are building our own system, it will be based on dignity, fairness and respect. In that way and through our actions, we will demonstrate to the people of Scotland that they can have true trust in what we are doing. Cabinet secretary, can you tell us how the staff carrying out assessments will be recruited, where they will be recruited from and whether they will be on permanent, full-time or part-time contracts and on specified hours? That is one of the areas that, as I mentioned earlier, the expert advisory group will be looking at in great detail. It will look, for example, at what is a suitably qualified assessor and who that will be. I think that it is quite right that I wait for the expert advisory group to look into that. We are also ensuring that discussions are on going with the ill health and disability benefits stakeholder reference group, which includes representatives from the British Medical Association and the NHS. There has been significant ministerial engagement with key individuals from the medical profession, too. Now that we have made the decisions that I have announced today, we will be able to open that up still further. I await the recommendations and the advice from the expert advisory group that will put more detail into the foundations that I have set out today. Thank you. If we can continue to be brief and get the last three questioners in, Ruth Maguire followed by Alec Rowley. Given the stigma attached to the DWP's work capability and PIP assessments and the current high turnover rates for healthcare professionals undertaking PIP assessments for the DWP, does the cabinet secretary foresee any issues in recruitment and retention? I am very well aware of the current very high turnover rate for those that are providing assessments on behalf of the DWP. As I said earlier, we are committed to building an entirely different system and therefore an entirely different culture to that under the DWP. That is important not just for those who are going through an assessment but for those who are carrying out the assessment as well. It is vital that the staff are properly supported, that they have the time and resources that they need to carry their work out and feel valued. I am determined through Social Security Scotland that we will be able to do that. I very much welcome the statement. Will the Minister give a guarantee to the cabinet secretary that healthcare professional support assessment will be specialist and qualified to assess the condition of the individual's concern? I am aware that that was a point that was very much discussed during the progress of the bill going through Parliament. It is again something that the expert advisory group is looking into and we are also discussing with healthcare professionals. Set out how assessments will be delivered in Ireland and other rural areas to ensure that the distinctive needs of people living in those areas are met. There are many challenges with the current DWP system but there are specific challenges that affect those in rural and remote areas. We need to ensure that the system that we have delivers no matter where people live and that they need to have access to the same quality of service from Scotland's social security system. That is why, as I have said before, wherever possible, we will make our assessment decisions that are desk-based to reduce the requirement for face-to-face assessments. However, where the assessment is necessary, we will ensure that the needs of the person are considered. That includes, as I mentioned in my statement, taking account of the distance and ability to travel and ensuring that the location and the time of appointments fits in with the person's needs, which I hope will be of some reassurance to Dr Allan's constituents. That concludes questions. I think that I was a bit hard on you but we managed to get everyone in, which I think is fair to those later on the list.